Move on already khairah. Work-wise. Sheesh.

Momentary reprieve

These days, I'm too busy, I feel a tad too busy and guilty to be blogging. But, self-reprieve is necessary, and like Senior Minister of transport and Finance Mrs Lim Hwee Hua said, we women (or girls) shouldn't feel guilty when we take time off for ourselves! In fact, thats the only way we can strike that balance when it comes to juggling the myriad of responsibilities-work, family, life, passion and hobbies. I sound a tad too old already, but its true, I'm feeling the pains of juggling already, and one can only expect this to get worse, but one (i.e. I) will not let that dampen my spirits and hope for the future in anyway.

Anyhow, I just went for this recruitment talk by this oil and gas consulting company, Schlumberger , This talk did lend highly insightful findings on the oil and gas market, but the highlight of the evening (not necessarily the best one though) was when we found out they only prefer Engineering candidates OR MBA grads. Seriously. Why invite BBA students then?! Haha, but well, its all in the attitude really. Anyway I did learn a great deal aout the oil and gas industry, like the fact that its facing the lowest demand in years, and how this is some critical, unprecedented times for those within this industry. Forecasts were positive though, and they of course expect the industry to jump right back up when the economy starts looking better, and demand shoots right back up again. In fact they're predicting based on what has happened in the past before (in the aftermath of the Asian Financial Crisis for instance) that the supply will start slacking during any crisis, cos the lowered demand and reduced revenue usually lead to large cuts in investments, which will serve to curtail supply, that could very well send supply shocks once the economy recovers and demand as I said earlier, shoots right back up. Interesting really.

Though, personally, on hindsight, I am put off that they may think that BBA graduates aren't competent enough to handle consultancy jobs. In fact, I am put off by all consultancy firms who think that way. It shouldn't be your qualifications (I mean not totally atleast),it should be one's ability to analyse the industry, the trends and put data from seemingly unrelated aspects to come up with real issues and solutions to deal with problems that matters. So, give us a chance!

Okay, just as a disclaimer, I am sure that consultancy companies do look out for outstandingly bright candidates (nvm if they're just graduates with a Bachelor's degree) but its the inherent assumption that BBA students are not on par as MBA students that I disagree with. Why I think so?

Honestly, because many MBA students had no business or economics background prior to their MBA studies, and many MBA programmes (especially the executive types), are based on the very same curriculum that BBA undergrads take for twice as long (4 years)! So you tell me, why shouldn't BBA graduates be considered on par, if not better than some MBA graduates?

Haha, as you can tell, I am aspiring to be a consultant someday. Its highly exciting don't you think, to be able to put yourself in the shoes of another company, help analyse, study, learn before helping to turn around the situation and make a real impact in not just one company (your own) but in that of the many clients you work with.

I shall strive for the best, Inshaallah! =)

Anyway peeps, just for your info, if you're a fan of sushi, go get the sushi at Ramen Ten (West Plaza Mall) the new one next to Clementi MRT station. The sushi on the conveyor belt is going at 99cents per plate! (White plates only though, but still! A darn good deal if you ask me! Till 31st March I think, so hurry!

Here are some photos I took that day (Ramen Ten should so pay me) :

Sushi on the conveyor belt. We were just piling them onto our table. 99 cents mah!





In addition to the whole sushi spread, we also had ramen! Thanks to the wonderful 50% off every ramen dish (we had 2 coupons lah!), we basically had a buy-one-get-one-free deal! We felt like ultimate super contented and bloated kiasu Singaporeans after that, nvm the whole Jap cuisine. ;D

Hi guys! I just drank a cup of Bru Coffee and I'm gg to be an unusual high soon enough, especially since this cup was extra strong. =D Life has been great, Alhamdulillah. Had my first Quiz for Consumer Behaviour yesterday, and as usual work's piling up! Thats what recess week is all about anyway! I'll be having my MS mid terms the week after next so I'll have to start preparing for that. Really grateful that my MS tutor is this wonderful guy who's superbly helpful and friendly AND he speaks perfect English. Just the other day, Hani and I were discussing how so many of our uni mates couldn't hold a conversation/presentation, or write a report without making unacceptable grammatical errors along the way. The kind that make us cringe. Having done 3 years in Uni thus far, I'd have to concede to that fact. Its appaling really, how so many amongst us cannot write or speak decently. I know that implicit in this observation is the supposed claim that my English is better. Not trying to distinguish myself in anyway, I'm guilty of the few grammatical errors now and then too, but I would atleast catch myself right after that, just because it really sounds awful.

Oh another random observation. In the past, when you see someone muttering ro talking to himself, we'd clearly suspect he's suffering from some mental illness. These days though, you can never be too sure. You gotta watch out for the bluetooth earpiece, in built ear canal earpiece and such BEFORE jumping to that conclusion. Its hilarious how technology has progressed to the extent that it redefines our thoughts, thinking process and perceptions. Just the other day, my family were at Sheng Siong. My grandma and I being the two who had injured feet, stayed in the car. Then, this guy driving this huge lorry parked next to us. He came out and was chattering out loud. Wanting to give his sanity the benefit of the doubt, I naturally peered to the left side of the lorry to look at who he was talking to. After a while, it became apparent that there was no one else in the lorry with him. My grandma was unusually silent at that point. Knowing her, I clarified, "Grandma, please don't think he's mad, he has this bluetooth piece attached to his left ear." She was greatly relieved, and went "OHHHHH... I really thought he was crazy!" HAHAHA, she's so adorable!

Okay, back to work now. Take good care kids! OH YES! I got into the YWLC mentorship program I was talking about. Alhamdulillah, its such an honour to be part of this noble network that's filled with 29 other brilliant young ladies. Looking forward to meaningful friendships, contributions and bonds, Inshaallah! Women power! ;)

Hop on, albeit the fractured right foot

In an unfortunate twist of fate, I am now the (not so proud) owner of a fractured right foot. How on earth did that happen?? Well, see, two people conspired to have a surprise meet-up at East Coast last Saturday (24th Jan), one of these master-minds is the one who's back from Down-Under for his tem break. OF course I was delighted to see him, but strangely enough, when its just us 3, luck takes a turn for the worse and inflicts its fury on innocent me. Mind you, this isn't the first time that bad luck hits me when we're togther. The first time was during our very first meet-up at Kallang Leisure Park where I lost BOTH my wallet and handphone. Could be my pure negligence, but I dunno, having fractured my foot on the second occasion is enough an unfortunate occurence to ring some warning bells in my head. The next time I see both of them together, I will make a 180 degrees turn, and RUN. I SWEAR. Haha, ok so now for the specifics of the incident.

We were at the breakwater rocks (my cousin keeps making a joke out of this, "Its Breakwater, Not Breaklake (pun on 'Break-leg'), and we were all fine and dandy, except when we were climbing down, and perhaps you could blame it on my ideal choice of footwear ( I was in 2.5 inches high wedges, but atleast its wedges and not heels, right?!) Wrong. I had my left foot firm on the ground when my right one suddenly lost balance and twisted and hit the side of it. I thought it was JUST a sprain, what with Kai and Riyaz re-assuring me that it will be "ALL ok by tomorrow", and even had to endure the massage from Kai, my grandma and this indonesian neighbour of ours, thinking 'no pain, no gain'.

My mum being the under-rated genius that she really is, insisted that I go for an X-ray, cos apparently all that massage had caused it to swell so much more, (it was starting to resemble a baby elephant's foot) and lo and behold, there is a 'hairline crack at the side of my right foot, aligned to where my baby toe is.. So now, I am in a cast, nagging-a-blogging here, and feeling a tad lousy and useless cos I can't help my grandma n mum out with all that housework, and worse still have to depend on them quite a bit when I go to the toilet etc. Ma's been such an angel, as she always is, bringing food to me, asking ppl over to cheer me up and holding me so tight everytime I do those 'hopping tricks' that involve 1) getting my left foot out of my bed room slipper and 2) into the toilet rubber slipper, 3) getting into the toilet and 4) doing my business, all on crutches.

The silver lining to this whole episode will have to be that it has been an eye-opener, when I think of the pain my elderly grandparents have and had to go through especially when their limbs and feet get sore, it pains my heart, cos it really can be unbearable and I can only but imagine the fate of those civillians whose lives turn topsy-turvy in just one night when they lose their limbs in a war, or soldiers who suddenly wake up finding their legs or arms missing. My heart goes out to every single one of them, cos even with JUST a fractured right foot, I know what it means to feel useless, to feel awfully guilty for having to trouble my loved ones, and for having all your plans go down the drain in a matter of minutes. But I thank you Allah, cos it could have been worse, and thanks for giving me people I can depend on even in such dire times. I'm sorry I blamed you in those first few days, please forgive me and give me the strength to take the lessons from this experience and putting it to good use, Amin.

There, one blogging experience, and I feel a whole lot better. Those who have read this, please do take care of yourselves too. See you guys soon, in 2 wks time, Inshaallah! :)

Big question is: Should I go for lessons in crutches or just skip? Hmmm..

Stamp the bane of imporper resource allocation? Start with Tertiary Libraries!

Hey, here I am hoping to kill time while I wait for Kai to pass me the Management science textbook that she borrowed from the TP library for me. How sweet is that. :) But, seriously, latest edition books like that are lying away (feeling dejected) collecting dust on the shelves of some of the poly libraries whilst we Uni students have to freaking queue to borrow the very same ones and make sure we don't exceed the 2 hours of frantic photocopying, cos every single minute could well mean an imposition of a FINE. How sad is THAT. This is the crux of inequality and improper allocation of resources I tell you. Ironically, in the very same institutions that preach on the hows and whys we need to combat these trends. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against polys being well stocked nor am I ignorant of why there needs to be a 2 hour limit placed on such 'hot highly demanded books' -("to fairly distribute and circulate these books so that EVERYBODY will get a chance", I hear you, I hear you). But SURELY, there must be some more efficient way to allocate resources no? Perhaps extending membership of all tertiary students to every other library in singapore? Okay, perhaps there will be shortcomings, it will be an administrative nightmare to say the least, but no pain, no gain right? I am also perfectly aware that if this suggestion of mine miraculously finds its ways into teh grand plans of the schools, that this suggestion will come right back at me cos it could very well mean a even more severe shortage of books for us in NUS since now every other tertiary/poly prof or student could come in and help themselves. Yes, not ALL good, but like I said, something ought to be done, and given the amazing stuff we can accomplish with technology today, a surer and more efficient allocation of resources (i.e. BOOKS) can be achieved.
Kai's still not here, Grrr.

Welcome 2009

I had to blog. Just cos the date on this entry will be 1st of January 2009. This new year doesn't feel like a grand new year to me anymore. Not sure why, perhaps cos the excitement of heralding a new year just died down with every passing year, and to say time flies is such a known cliche, its pointless repeating the obvious anyway. So here I am, at my laptop on New Year's Day pretty much oblivious to what life will throw my way in the span of the next 364 days n 2.5 hours or so, but brave enough to brace myself to face it all. So all the best to myself, and to every single one of us, may we have the courage to pursue our dreams, have enough luck and fortune to guide us there and have all the love and loved ones to buoy us up when things don't always go our way. Here's to a fulfilling and memorable 2009! Muackz! =)

Life's little surprises

There's a kid below at the playground who's screamingggg "Hantu!" repeatedly, I'm getting freaked out. Haha, kids. Adorable lah. Anyway, so I'm off to vietnam (Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Sapa, Hue, Ho Chi Minh) in about, let me see 11 hours from now! Wheeee! 10 days trip, I hope the next entry will be one that ravessss about how cool the trip has been. AND I hope I return in one piece. Amin. :) Stay good kids.

PS: Anyway with regards to the UBS Young Women Leadership Connection thing I mentioned in the previous entry, I received an email 3 days ago, which included an application form for those interested in the mentorship program, so YEAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!! Turns out that email was sent to everyone I think. The only reason I can come up with to explain that, is that everyone of us did a great deal of question-asking so it was probably hard to keep track of who asked what, and so they offered it to everyone! Just hope my application gets approved! :D

Yours to hold and cherish

I wish I could have a one-liner for this entry which would be about that UBS Young Women's Leadership Connection thing, and if I could here's how it would sound- "I went, learnt and kicked ass". But sadly or not, this entry won't be a one-liner (as it obviously isn't already), it'd probably rake a few paras even.

So I went, a tad late,but not to worry, still in time for the mini reception before the dialogue. Was chit-chatting with a few girls when two of the Guests of honour ambled towards this small group of ours to mingle (read: make small talk AND assess us), cos know it or not, this whole dialogue thing was aimed at choosing a good 15 candidates (out of the 60) for a 3 mth- 1 yr long period of personal mentorship, probably by some minister or something. And I won't be discreet about this, OF COURSE I was vying for a spot in that mentorship program, not just cos the very idea of having a mentor is such a novelty, but really because I believed this could be a milestone of a stepping stone in helping me reach my leadership potential through the greater opportunities that one can associate with such networking groups. But I was perhaps one of the most dim-witted, un-interesting, shy and unconfident person of that evening, cos even with 2 reputable high-flyers in my midst, I was perhaps as interesting as the wallpaper in the room. OK, maybe a little more credit. As participative as those battery operated dolls whose scope of abilities extends little beyond, "ha ha ha, that's true, *nod, smile* ha ha ha". SHEESH.

Before I had any longer to rev up my wits and participate more, time was up, and we had to pile into the room for the dialogue. Mentally cursing my lack of social networking skills, I made my way into the room with a smile to mask that dissatisfaction.

But, the two speeches I heard that night were moving in their own right and brimmed with wisdom that made me realise so much. The two gest speakers, Ms. Grace, a State minister for Education (and something else) and Mrs Fang, the CEO of Great Eastern, if anything were truly inspirational. Mrs Fang. for one was one of the few speakers I've come across who had no qualms sharing really personal experiences that made her speech both fully enriching and sincere. I left that night, believing that although somethings won't go as you planned, you ought to hold your head up high, for the next opportunity that comes your way, and be the one person with unwavering faith for your self. It was a beautiful night, and although I may not get to the next round of this program, with this newly enforced self-belief and faith, I am certain that I will get far in life, Inshaallah. Bring it on!

Feeling good

Birds flying high

You know how I feel

Sun in the sky

You know how I feel

Reeds driftin' on by

You know how I feel

It's a new dawn

It's a new day

It's a new life

For me'

And I'm feeling good

Fish in the sea

You know how I feel

River running free

You know how I feel

Blossom in the tree

You know how I feel

It's a new dawn

It's a new day

It's a new life

For me

And I'm feeling good

Dragonfly out in the sun

you know what I mean, don't you know

Butterflies all havin' fun

you know what I mean

Sleep in peace when the day is done

And this old world is a new world

And a bold world

For me

Stars when you shine

You know how I feel

Scent of the pine

You know how I feel

Yeah freedom is mine

And I know how I feel

It's a new dawn

It's a new day

It's a new lifeFor me

And I'm feeling good

I think there's this fine line between being nice and being pathetic. I feel like elaborating, but I just realised I need to wrap my aunt's bday gift, so perhaps if this 'feeling' lasts, I will describe what transpired.